House construction



Nov. 17, 1970 R, sLlNlNG f 3,540,177

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 20; 1967 A 2 Sheets-Sheet l' INVENTOR.

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United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 52-261 1 Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A house construction having a structural skeletal form comprised of foundation-mounted floor beams and roofsupporting columns rigidly aflixed to said beams, the iioor beams supporting a hollow insulation-filled iioor panel, and curtain walls spanning between the columns.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Areas having mild climates, and more especially not subject to snowfall and like extremes of weather, may be adequately served by houses and other or similar structures that have strong rigid skeleton frames, but in which the outer walls are curtain walls that serve only to enclose such frame, but do not require the strength ordinarily provided' by conventional outer walls. The invention, therefore, provides for adequate, comfortable and inexpensive enclosure of the skeleton frame of houses in mild weather environments.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, y

preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are given by way of illustration or example only.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The house structure of this invention comprises a foundation 15, beams or girders 16 supported by their ends to said foundation and anchored thereto, a floor 17 formed of stress skin plywood panels 18 supported on said beams 16 and lled or partly filled with heat insulation 19, a plurality of columns or Studs 20 mounted on the ends of the beams 16 and anchored to the foundation 15, a roof 21 connected to the upper end of said columns 20, curtain walls 22 extending between the foundation 15 and beams 16, and means 23 to enclose the columns and extending between adjacent ends of said walls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a typical vertical sectional view of the house construction at the face of one of the columns thereof.

FIG. 2 is a broken plan view showing the arrangement of the roof beams.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged and broken cross-sectional view as taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lower end of one of the columns.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view as taken on the line 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 as a horizontal sectional view of the column ice and adjacent wall construction, the same being an enlargement of the column shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of another form of the column and wall construction.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view as taken in the line 3 8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view through another form of foundation.

FIG. 10 is a broken side View of a modied form of column.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The foundation may comprise a continuous concrete perimeter wall outlining the house structure to enclose an interior area 26, as in FIG. l, or the wall 25 may comprise the perimeter wall around a concrete slab 27 substantially level with the wall 25. In the latter case, as is usual, the slab 27 rests upon the ground, the area 26 being eliminated.

At each place where the end of a beam '16 is supported by the foundation wall 25, the latter is formed with a notch 28, as best seen in FIG. 5, to receive such beam end.

The beams 16 may have any suitable cross-section, the same being shown as H-beams which, by means of anchor bolts 29, are firmly connected to said foundation wall 25 at the time the latter is being poured. Where the beams rest up said walls termite shields 30 may be provided. Also, after the beams are in place, the notches 28 may be filled in with cement or concrete 31, as shown in FIG. 5.

The stress skin plywood panels 18 that form the floor 17 comprise upper and lower plywood sheets 32 that are spaced apart by angularly disposed partitions 33, thereby forming chambers 34 in which heat insulation 19, such as foam styrene, spun glass and other such light fibrous or woolly materials may be placed. The same may, at least, partly lill the chambers 34. The panels 18 rest upon the beams 16 and are provided with notches 35 to accommodate the columns but more particularly the H-beams 36 forming the same.

Each column, as shown in FIG. 4, may have a foot comprising I-beams 37 that extend horizontally abo-ve and aligned with the beams 16 and along the top of each end of beam 16 and adjacent portions of the concrete walls 15. Said extensions 37 form a T-shaped support foot for each column. Instead of such a foot made of beams, a steel or similar plate 38 may be used, the same being welded, as are the beams 37, to the lower ends of the H- beams 36. In addition, anchor bolts 39, similar to the bolts 29, may be provided on the plate 38 and extend downwardly to be anchored in the walls 25 of the foundation.

As shown in FIG. l, webs 40 may be provided to reinforce the ends of beams 16 and also serve to close off the notches 2-8 as do the cement fillers 31. Also the H-beam studs are so oriented that one hollow side thereof faces inwardly, providing a space to house certain items such as the outlet box 41 and the electric conduit 42 extending downwardly therefrom.

The roof 21 is shown as comprising rafters of laminated wood beams 43 resting in end notches 44 in the studs 20 and fastened in place by bolts 45 or the like. The upper edges of the rafter beams 43 support stress skin roof panels 46 similar to the floor panels 17, insulated in the same manner and held against the pitch of the rafters by end boards 47. Shake shingles 48 may be used to cover the roof panels 46.

The curtain walls 22 preferably comprise exterior skins 49 which may be made of suitable light material, as plywood, wood composition or the like, and interior skins 50 preferably comprising similar lightweight panels having vinyl coating 51, or the like, on the exposed faces thereof. Sheet steel studs 52, affixed as by bolts S3, are so formed as to space the skins 49 and 50 a distance greater than that of the transverse dimension of the H-beams 36. Said studs 52 are provided with inwardly and oppositely directed legs 54 which engage the opposite sides of insulation panels 55 which, thereby, are located between the wall skins 49 and 50 and are spaced therefrom.

It will be seen that the walls 22 not only are lightweight elements, but are formed to have good heat insulating properties due not only to the panles S5, which may be comprised of styrofoam or like foraminous material, but also to the air' spaces 56 between the panels 55 and the wall skins 49 and 50.

In practice the columns 20 may be disposed on eight foot centers. In order to suitably reinforce the walls 22 across such widths, sheet steel studs 57 may be provided on sixteen inch centers, the same enabling use of sixteen inch insulation panels 55 that, therefore, have minimum tendency to flex from their normal aligned positions. It will be understood that the outer skins 49 may be extended into overlapping relation to the foundation walls 25, as indicated in FIG. 9, that the interior skin 50 may terminate at the oor 17, and that a metal weather seal 58 may be interposed between the top of the foundation and the bottom of each column 20 and the skins spanning therebetween. At the upper end, suitable strips 59 of ber glass or like material may be carried by the colums and walls and have sealing engagement with the roof beams 43 and the panels 46. Said strips may be metallic for weather sealing.

The alternative wall form shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 substitutes a precast and lightweight concrete slab 60 for the skins 49 and 50 and insulation panels 55. Said slab may be lightened by vertical holes 61 and, at least on the interior face, be provided with a coating 62 of vinyl or the like. The studs 54 may be omitted and instead, the concreate slab 60 may have bars 63 cast therein, the same having threaded ends 64 that extend into laterally open notches 65 in the column beams 36. Nuts 66 are used to secure said bar ends to said beams.

The means 23 may be used on both described forms of curtain walls. The same is shown as comprising vinyl extrusion strips 67 that have snap-on engagement with the side edges of said walls and span across the column beams 36 to enclose them on the interior side, and external cap or strip 68 which, depending on conditions and, as desired, may be made of Wood, ber glass, and the like. Said caps `68 may be secured from the inside.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular forms of construction illus.- trated and described, but to cover all modifcationsithat may fall within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In house constmction:

(a) a foundation having a perimeter wall and horizontal support portions extending across the space surrounded by said foundation wall,

(b) spaced columns afxed to and extending upwardly from the outer portions of said perimeter walls,

(c) the upper ends of said columns provided with roof supporting portions,

(d) lightweight curtain walls spanning between said columns and spaced at their ends from the column,

(e) inner and outer strip members extending across the respective inner and outer faces of said columns and in overlapped engagement with the portions of said Walls adjacent to the column,

(f) the inner strip member being spaced rearwardly ,and the outer strip member being spaced forwardly of the colums, and

(g) each said col-umn being provided with a foot portion comprising I-beam members extending both inwardly and laterally in the form of a T, said column portion being provided with anchor bolts which, when embedded in the perimeter wall of the foundation, fasten said columns to said foundation,

(h) each said curtain wall comprising:

' (l) a precast panel of lightweight concrete provided on its interior face with a vinyl coating,

(2) transverse bars embedded in said panel and having threaded ends that extend from the lateral edges of the panels and into extended engagement with the column located between said panel edges, and

(3) nuts engaged with said ends of the bars to secure the same to said column.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 92,205 7/ 1869 Mullett & Oertly 52-624 1,651,516 12/1927 Ellis `52-289 2,101,952 12/1937 Olsen 52--481 3,124,222 3/1964 Mote 52--235 760,135 5/1904 Miller 52-280 971,733 10/1910 Dravo et al. 52-283 1,622,962 3/ 1927 Michod 52-274 2,076,472 4/ 1937 London 52-619 2,217,374 10/1940 Menzel 52-274 2,348,180 5/1944 Paley 52-236 2,585,082 2/1952 Bollinger 52-576 2,590,123 3/1952 Rapp 52-283 FOREIGN PATENTS 235,631 6/1925 Great Britain. 685,213 4/ 1964 Canada. v 1,105,203 6/ 1955 France.

649,068 11/1962 Italy.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner I. L. RIDGILL, JR.,` Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

